How the press suffers
The jailing of al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt again raises questions about security afforded to journalists covering wars and conflicts. And Egypt has been a test case since the beginning of the Arab Spring. President Mubarak’s downfall brought a fair degree of violence. And once the Muslim Brotherhood began gaining prominence, the military was not the only institution unhappy with journalists covering its excesses. But now that the Brotherhood has been put in its place, and the military is back in its usual place, a different kind of antagonism has resulted in a peculiar dilemma for the regional press.
Qatar’s liking for the Brotherhood not only spoiled relations with Egypt, it also caused the first public spat within the GCC. Saudis have always resented the Ikhwan, and the standoff led to Saudi Arabia and the UAE expelling Qatari ambassadors some months ago. The journalists now preparing to serve long sentences in Cairo are there, in reality, because of their channel’s obvious pro-Qatar, pro-Brotherhood stance. And it is strange how the US, always advocating democracy and human rights in the Middle East, calls this episode Egypt’s internal affair, expressing confidence in the country’s judiciary.
Unfortunately, even if much about the Arabian world’s politics, especially its vendettas, remain the same, much has changed in the region as a whole, especially since Nato and Riyadh started meddling in the Spring, beginning with Libya. Thanks to militant groups they helped set up, al Qaeda hordes have turned much of the region into hellish civil war. The Sykes-Picot agreement, which divided the spoils of the falling Ottoman Empire among colonial powers after the first world war, is effectively finished, and countries like Iraq and Syria are under serious threat of partition.
The more this cancer of militancy spreads, the more it will become difficult for journalists to report from the field. These are not the variety that jail you for offending them in the international press. They chop your head off, and upload it on the internet. And their targeting of civilians, including journalists, is sometimes of a more disturbing kind than the one we are used to in Pakistan.
Journalism is no easy work in Pakistan either, especially for those covering the insurgency. Of course wars test the media just like other institutions. But since journalists are often at the forefront, gathering news, there is perhaps a special need to ensure their protection during wars and conflicts. They must, without a doubt, be free of political influence and reprisals.